Eintracht Frankfurt also remains on the road to success in Denmark and garnishes the victory with an extraordinary record. TSG Hoffenheim missed the start and suffered a bitter defeat in Portugal. Heidenheim shows a surprisingly strong performance in the Conference League. The results at a glance.
With a calm performance, Eintracht Frankfurt equaled Chelsea FC’s Europa League record and took a big step towards the round of 16. The second-placed team in the Bundesliga won 2-1 (1-0) at Danish champions FC Midtjylland and is now unbeaten in this competition for 18 games across the season.
Hugo Larsson in the 7th minute and Omar Marmoush (57th) with a hand penalty scored the goals for the Hessians, who are in third place in the table with 13 points after five games. Nnamdi Collins (48th) unintentionally scored an own goal to equalize. The next opponent of Eintracht, who won the Europa League in 2022, is Olympique Lyon on December 12th.
“We have always fully accepted this competition and enjoy this stage,” said Frankfurt’s sports director Markus Krösche before kick-off. The Hessians showed that from the start. After a nice combination via Hugo Ekitiké and Marmoush, Larsson scored with a shot into the far corner to take the early lead.
Eintracht misses opportunities
Frankfurt controlled the game and cleverly kept the home team away from their own goal. Former national goalkeeper Kevin Trapp only had to seriously intervene once in the first half when Adam Buksa shot. However, Eintracht wasn’t really compelling in attack and only had half-chances for Larsson and Arthur Theate. Both failed because of Elias Olafsson in the Danes’ goal.
Otherwise there was a lot going on between the penalty areas – until Marmoush missed a great chance to make it 2-0 shortly before the break. After a fine pass from strike partner Ekitiké, the top scorer had a free path, but lobbed the ball just over the goal. Olafsson would have been powerless in this scene.
Shortly after the substitution, Niels Nkounkou also missed a possible second goal. The Frenchman didn’t hit the ball correctly in a promising position. Almost in return, the equalizer came out of nowhere when Collins unfortunately deflected a cross from Mikel Krüger-Johnsen into his own goal. The ball arced over Trapp into the far corner.
Eintracht shook briefly and immediately straightened out again. When Midtjylland defender Ousmane Diao deflected a shot from Marmoush in his own penalty area with his hand, the English referee Craig Pawson decided on a penalty, according to the video images. Marmoush grabbed the leather and turned ice cold. It was the 25-year-old Egyptian’s 15th competitive goal this season.
After 68 minutes, the striker called it a day and was replaced by Can Uzun. And Rasmus Kristensen was also allowed to work at his old place of work. The right-back made his comeback after recovering from a thigh injury. Both of them worked together and almost scored Frankfurt’s third goal. After Kristensen’s cross, Uzun’s header narrowly missed the target, so the score remained 2-1.
Hoffenheim loses in Braga after a weak start
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim lost further ground in the Europa League after a completely sleepy opening minute at Sporting Braga. New football coach Christian Ilzer’s team lost 3-0 (0-2) to the fifth-place team in the Portuguese league on matchday five. This means that the harmless Kraichgauers are still waiting for their second victory and have to worry about progressing with only five points.
Four days after the furious 4-3 win against RB Leipzig on Ilzer’s Bundesliga debut, Hoffenheim were caught cold in front of 10,010 spectators at the Estádio Municipal de Braga with its rocky massif. Former Leipzig player Bruma made it 1-0 in the 2nd minute, Roger Fernandes increased it to 2-0 shortly afterwards (8th). Vitor Carvalho made it 3-0 with a powerful shot (90+5). On December 12th, TSG absolutely has to win against FCSB Bucharest in Sinsheim.
A hair-raising bad pass from national goalkeeper Oliver Baumann led to an early deficit: Bruma hit the far corner and celebrated his goal by blowing up a bright red balloon. Roger made the false start complete for the guests: When Braga attacked quickly, the right winger had a lot of space – this time the ball landed in the bottom left corner.
Ilzer’s expression darkened more and more. The 47-year-old Austrian had put five newcomers into the starting line-up, including Mergim Berisha, who had fallen out of favor under his predecessor Pellegrino Matarazzo, as the striker. But he remained just as inconspicuous as Adam Hlozek, the double goalscorer against Leipzig.
For Baumann and Andrej Kramaric, the game quickly turned into déjà vu. Seven years ago – back then under current national coach Julian Nagelsmann – the two TSG veterans were on the pitch in Braga when Hoffenheim were eliminated from the Europa League with a 3-1 defeat.
This time too it came to nothing, although the Hoffenheim team quickly recovered from their initial difficulties: Berisha (19th) and Anton Stach (22nd) missed the chances to equalize (22nd). “It’s a huge table, like a big ocean, in which we swim in the middle as small fish,” said Ilzer before his international premiere with the Kraichgauers.
At least his professionals swam a little free in front of 450 TSG fans who had traveled with them, but even after the break they were hardly able to generate any pressure and didn’t really have a clear chance to score. Roberto Fernandez could have made it 3-0 alone in front of Baumann before the Brazilian Carvalho managed to do so.
Heidenheim is defeated by Chelsea
In an exceptional game in the club’s history, 1. FC Heidenheim narrowly missed the big surprise against Chelsea FC. After a courageous performance in the duel with the global and billion-dollar club, the outsider from the Bundesliga had to admit defeat 0-2 (0-0) in the Conference League. Former Leipzig player Christopher Nkunku (51st minute) and Mychajlo Mudryk (85th) sweetened the short trip to the Ostalb for the star ensemble from London on this cold, wet evening.
Given some of their own chances, Heidenheim could have rewarded themselves with a point. Two supposed Heidenheim goals by substitute Maximilian Breunig were disallowed due to offside (79th/88th). In stoppage time, Chelsea’s Cesare Casadei saw yellow-red (90th + 6), but that didn’t change anything about the visitors’ victory.
However, the Heidenheim club chronicle is enriched by a special chapter. Coach Frank Schmidt had previously said that this game would remain special “forever”. And despite their first European Cup defeat, 1. FC Heidenheim can still hope for direct qualification for the round of 16 after three wins in three games.
Heidenheim can draw courage for the Bundesliga relegation battle
In the midst of their difficult phase in the Bundesliga, the Heidenheim team played an entertaining game in front of 15,000 spectators. Schmidt’s team kept the duel of extreme contrasts with the 2012 and 2021 Champions League winners open until the final phase and fought back impressively even after going behind.
The hosts actually had the first chance: Mikkel Kaufmann narrowly missed after a free kick (2nd). On the other hand, goalkeeper Kevin Müller stood out several times against the Premier League club’s offense. But the blatant outsider also knew how to keep the defense of the six-time English champion and Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jörgensen busy.
Again with an opportunity from Kaufmann (15th), after a fine move from Scienza (20th) or with shots from Paul Wanner (25th) and Mathias Honsak (27th), Heidenheim could have taken the lead. After a good half hour, Chelsea were initially awarded a penalty after a duel between Patrick Mainka and Mychajlo Mudryk, but this was taken back after video evidence.
Heidenheim misses opportunities
After the break, two former Bundesliga professionals cracked Heidenheim’s defense: the hosts couldn’t get the ball out of their own half, and former Leipzig player Nkunku scored on an assist from former Dortmund player Jadon Sancho.
But a goal for the hosts, who annoyed Chelsea, was still possible. Müller also had to repeatedly save himself from a larger deficit. But Scienza (57th/63rd) had the chance to equalize, as did Wanner, who was denied by Jörgensen. Only the 0:2 made the decision. In stoppage time, Chelsea’s Cesare Casadei saw a yellow-red card (90+6). Despite the setback, Heidenheim remains at the top with nine points. The next opponent is the Turkish club Basaksehir on December 12th.
dpa/ll
